Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is important for numerous reasons. First, it can have a strong impact on the quality of a person's life. People who are healthy tend to be happier, and more successful in day-to-day endeavors. Furthermore, as the life span of individuals continues to grow, leading a healthy life increases the odds that the later years of life are enjoyable. Second, maintaining a healthy lifestyle can have an impact on the costs of health care. Individuals who are healthy tend to require less medication, fewer treatments for ailments, less hospital time, etc.
Unfortunately, there are many existing factors that encourage individuals to lead an unhealthy lifestyle. The increasing convenience of many technologies has caused people to be more sedentary than ever before. Teens and adults in particular are spending more and more time in front of televisions and computers and less and less time partaking in healthy activities such as physical exercise. In particular, many individuals are choosing to spend their time playing video games that do not require much physical movement rather than getting involved in sports or games that require the exertion of significant physical energy. While some video gaming systems have created fitness programs, these fitness programs do not typically incorporate a game. Furthermore, because most video gaming systems are connected to a television or incorporated into a computer (desktop or laptop) the amount of physical activity that can be performed while playing the game is limited. One of the best ways to become and stay fit is to exercise the body's core muscles. One means of exercising the core muscles of the body is through yoga. Unfortunately the idea of performing yoga is unpleasant to many for a variety of reasons.
There is a need in the art for a game that incorporates meaningful physical activity. In particular, there is a need for a game which requires players to perform yoga or yoga-type moves to progress through the game thereby causing the individual to exercise his or her core muscles. In one exemplary embodiment, a classic video game is played with at least one yoga ball. In a preferred exemplary embodiment, the player sits atop of the yoga ball and moves his or her body—and hence also causes the yoga ball to move—in order to cause progression in the video game. The yoga ball may be connected to a known game controller which communicates the yoga ball's motion to a game console. In another exemplary embodiment, the yoga ball is positioned on or within a motion sensor which is in communication with a game console. In some exemplary embodiments, a yoga ball comprises at least one sensor in connectivity with a game console where the sensor measures the movement of the yoga ball in at least one direction so that the measurement can be sent to the game console. In one exemplary embodiment two yoga balls are utilized by a player to advance through a video game.
A preferred exemplary embodiment comprises a yoga ball, a game console, a video game executing on the game console, and a controller that corresponds to the console such that motion of the controller can be detected by the console. In such an embodiment, an individual may position himself on the yoga ball while holding the controller and begin to move his body. Alternatively, the controller may be connected to the yoga ball in some embodiments. The game console may detect the motion of the controller as it moves with the individual. In response to the recognized motion, the game console may advance the individual through the video game. In preferred exemplary embodiments, certain moves of the controller that are recognized by the game console will correspond to certain video game effects.
Some exemplary embodiments comprise a yoga ball and a stress ball. In a preferred exemplary embodiment the player sits upon the yoga ball and holds the stress ball in at least one hand. The yoga ball and the stress ball may both be adapted to sense the movement of the player's body and cause a message or messages to be sent to a game console in response to the movement. In a preferred exemplary embodiment, the system comprises a signal translating device which receives messages from at least one yoga ball where the messages contain information regarding the movement of a player's body and translates those messages into signals to be sent to a game console. Preferably, the translated messages correspond to signals the game console would receive from a traditional video game controller. In these exemplary embodiments, when the signal translating device is in connectivity with a game console, at least one yoga ball may be utilized to replace a traditional controller that corresponds to the game console for playing a video game on the console.
In one exemplary embodiment, a yoga ball is utilized to play a video game, the subject of which is not exercise. In other words, the game player exercises with the yoga ball to play a game but the game is about something other than exercise. For example, the video game may be one involving car racing, combat, exploration, puzzle solving, etc. By having a subject other than exercise, game play may be seen as more fun by participants thereby encouraging physical activity.